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Background: Yoga is an ancient Indian Philosophy. Recent interest in Yoga is due to its beneficial effects on the various systems of the body. Yogic exercises when practiced regularly have shown to improve health and well being. Pranayama involves mainly breathing control exercises therefore we decided to find beneficial effects of Pranayama on pulmonary function tests. Methods: The present study was conducted in Department of Physiology Osmania Medical College Hyderabad. Healthy male individuals n=50 were selected and divided into two groups randomly (Group I-after 9 weeks of regular yogic training, Group II (Control)-normal individuals. Pulmonary function tests such as Forced Vital Capacity (FVC), Peak Expiratory Flow Rate (PEFR), Forced Expiratory Flow (FEF 25-75% ) and Maximum Voulntary Ventilation (MVV) were recorded with Medspiror. Results: FVC, PEFR and MVV were 74.04%, 78.8%, 78.6% respectively in control group while the values in study group were 81.21%, 97.1%, 97.42% respectively. 'P' values were significant for PEFR and MVV. Conclusion: Pranayama training helps in improvement of Respiratory function after regular training. This may be due to beneficial effect of Pranayama on respiratory system. Yoga has beneficial effects on respiratory and cardiovascular systems when practiced regularly.

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